Tuesday, September 01, 2009Last Update: 9:46 AM PT

Doctors Group Says Wikipedia Defamed It

By SARAH HULL

MANHATTAN (CN) - The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine claims Wikimedia defamed it. The group, also known as A4M, says Wikipedia reported that "many exhibitors at A4M trade shows ... have been indicted in federal and state investigations into illegal trafficking of human growth hormone and anabolic steroids." But A4M says that "only one [A4M] exhibitor has ever been investigated for wrongdoing" and "the charges against the exhibitor were later found baseless and dropped." The group also claims that Wikipedia falsely reported that A4M's mission statement was "never growing old." In fact, A4M says, its mission is to "promote research into methods to retard ... the human aging process." The group says Wikipedia also made other "misleading and disparaging" statements about it. Wikipedia allegedly stated that A4M's founders claim to "have medical degrees from Central American Health Sciences in Belize, despite never actually studying there." This "improperly implies that [the founders] did not receive appropriate or sufficient medical training," A4M says. In fact, it says, "that [the founders] completed the requisite medical education ... to earn their Doctor of Medicine Degrees ... is not in any doubt." The plaintiff also disputes statements made about their receipt in absentia of "a bottle of cooking oil labeled as 'snake oil'" for being "promoters of quackery" during a 2004 conference in Australia. Drs. Robert M. Goldman and Ronald M. Klatz are co-plaintiffs. They demand damages for "injury to their business and professional reputations." They are represented in New York County Court by Sigmund Wissner-Gross at Brown Rudnick.